Laparoscopic surgery is a surgical technique in which operations in the abdomen are performed through small incisions (usually 0.5-1.5 cm). There are a number of advantages provided to a patient undergoing laparoscopic surgery versus an open surgical procedure. These include a much smaller incision, reduced pain and hemorrhaging, and shorter recovery time.
Modern laparoscopic instruments, including robotically-assisted laparoscopic instruments, typically include an elongated shaft that terminates in a mechanical end effector for reaching into a patient's body and manipulating the patient's tissue in a desired manner. The end effector may be a simple mono-polar electrode, a toothed grasper, scissors, or some other device or structure that is adapted to perform a desired function during a laparoscopic procedure. Laparoscopic instruments are generally formed of rigid materials, such as metals and plastics, in order to facilitate articulation, grasping, cutting, and other movements and/or actions that may be necessary.
Conventional laparoscopic instruments are associated with a number of shortcomings. For example, due to their rigidity, and since they are generally not conformal and are not capable of significantly altering their shape during use, such instruments have outer dimensions that define minimum and maximum dimensions of surgical access ports in patients' through which they extend. This restricts the number of useful procedures and operating environments in which such instruments may be employed.
A further shortcoming associated with conventional laparoscopic instruments is that, since these instruments often include teeth, blades, jaws, serrations, or other such features that are formed of hard plastic and/or metal, there exists a significant risk of unintentionally injuring tissue while performing a laparoscopic procedure, such as may result from accidental and/or overly-forcible contact with tissue.
A further shortcoming associated with conventional laparoscopic instruments is that, in embodiments of such instruments that have metallic surfaces and that are used for performing electosurgery and/or are used in conjunction with other instruments that are used for electrosurgery, instances of electrical arching have been known to occur, sometimes resulting in injury to patients.
The above described challenges have heretofore been mitigated by heightened surgeon awareness, extensive training, and complete avoidance of certain anatomical structures and pathologies that are known to present challenges. This places a significant burden on surgeons and limits the range of applications in which laparoscopic instruments may be used.